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Judge Blocks Kanye West From Running For President In Arizona

Kanye West can't run for president, at least not in Arizona.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott McCoy rejected arguments this afternoon by lawyers for the rapper that he's not bound by the rules, which prohibit people registered with any recognized party from running as an independent.

McCoy said the record shows that West is registered as a Republican in Wyoming. And he rejected arguments that West is not a member of the Arizona Republican Party and that the law here on independent candidates applies only to people registered as Republicans in this state.

Thursday's ruling may not be the last word. West still has a shot at an appeal.

But time is running out.

His petitions are due to be filed with the Secretary of State's Office on Friday. And officials in most of the state's 15 counties say they need to send the ballots to the printer by this coming Tuesday.

Attorney Tim Berg, representing West, urged McCoy to leave his client's name on the ballot even given the possibility that an appellate court could rule him ineligible. Berg said if that happens it would be no big deal to educate voters that he is ineligible and that votes for him would not count.

But attorney Joseph Roth, representing a challenger to West's candidacy, said that's not an answer.

"Arizona has an important interest in preventing voter confusion, ballot overcrowding and frivolous candidacy,'' he told the judge. More to the point, he said, having an unqualified candidate on printed ballots "is a harm that cannot be undone.''

All that goes to the underlying questions of why West is trying to get on the ballot.

There is no serious consideration that he could win, given that he is not on the ballot in many states.

But there is the chance that West, who in the past has been an ally of President Donald Trump, could siphon off enough votes from Democrat Joe Biden to give the incumbent the edge he needs here — and the state's 11 electoral votes — in what is widely seen as a battleground state.

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